MSU Student Organic Farm offers two programs for beginning and aspiring farmers
Print
EmailSign up now for the online MSU Farm Business Plan Accelerator or the 2021 Organic Farmer Training Program.
The MSU Student Organic Farm (MSU SOF) is offering two great opportunities to take your farm vision to the next level. New this year, the MSU Farm Business Plan Accelerator is a 100% online opportunity to support you in writing a farm business plan that fits your farm site, markets, skills, and goals. The FBP Accelerator meets twice weekly with other beginning and aspiring farmers beginning June 16, 2020. The course is offered in addition to the MSU SOF’s signature program, the MSU Organic Farmer Training Program (OFTP). The OFTP is a 50/50 mix of field and classroom activities over the full 2021 farm season at the 15-acre MSU Student Organic Farm in East Lansing. In the dozen years that SOF has offered OFTP, 168 graduates have written farm business plans and 80% of graduates surveyed in 2019 are farming full-time or part-time. Email msufarm@msu.edu for more information about either program.
The Farm Business Plan Accelerator converts your lunch break into a time for interactive learning via group discussions, collaborative problem solving, participant presentations, and creation of collaborative items to share. Pre-recorded video lectures provide content and allow class time for interaction and developing your plan. Sign up now to join the virtual learning community each Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 1:30 p.m. from June 16, 2020 to October 15, 2020. View the FBP Accelerator schedule to see the full list of farm topics, business-planning activities, and to sign up.
The MSU Organic Farmer Training Program is an in-depth immersion into sustainable farming. The course meets every Monday from March 15, 2021 to November 15, 2021 at the MSU Student Organic Farm in East Lansing. Participants will visit over 20 farms, gain hands-on farming experience and write a Farm Business Plan. The OFTP also brings in speakers from the field, including MSU Extension Educators, MSU Faculty, and other area farmers that enhance student learning. The 2021 OFTP schedule shows the diversity of farming topics. Apply now to join the mix of aspiring, beginning and transitioning farmers, farmworkers, homesteaders, and educational gardeners.
Bill Coughlin, 2019 OFTP graduate says, “This is an extraordinary program. It’s as good or better than much more expensive intensive training, such as the Stanford Executive Program. I built and managed my first hoophouse and made my first sales to a local restaurant during the 2019 OFTP. This would not have been possible but for your program."
Apply today to invest in your farm’s future. Visit http://www.msuorganicfarm.org/ to learn more and sign up for either of these innovative programs. The 2018 and 2019 SOF Annual Report details more about the outreach, educational, and research act
